KAEL.
The first howl shattered the quiet before midnight. It wasn't one of ours.
I was already moving before Tarin reached the door. His face said everything. "They're here."
Too early. The full moon was tomorrow. That meant the traitor was still talking to them. Still here.
"Lock down the east side," I ordered. "Pull the warriors from the west gate and reinforce the inner yard. Now."
Tarin bolted. I crossed the room to Elara. She stood in front of Liam, her hand on his shoulder, her eyes searching mine.
"They're early," she said.
"Inside. Now."
"I'm not hiding again."
I stepped in close, the scent of her skin hitting me like it always did. "You are. You will. Because if I have to fight them and keep my eyes on you at the same time, we lose."
Her mouth tightened, but she didn't argue again. She took Liam's hand and followed me down the hall to the reinforced room near my quarters. I hated putting them there, hated locking the door behind them, but it was the only way to make sure they stayed alive while I went out to kill.
The yard was already in chaos. Warriors clashed with Blackclaw wolves in a blur of fur and teeth. The air was thick with snarls, the copper scent of blood, and the cold bite of night.
I shifted mid-run, my paws hitting the ground hard enough to shake dirt from the stones. My wolf welcomed the fight, eyes scanning for the fastest kills.
We tore through the first wave, driving them back toward the wall. I caught one by the throat and felt the bone snap before tossing him aside. Another lunged from the left, and I met him head-on, sending him sprawling into the mud.
"Kael!" Tarin's voice cut through the noise. "East gate's down!"
Damn it. That was too close to the inner yard. Too close to them.
I shifted back, blood still on my hands, and sprinted toward the east side. My wolf snarled inside me, pulling toward one scent above all, Elara's.
I reached the corner just in time to see her outside the safe room, blade in hand, Tarin at her side, cutting down one of the intruders.
"What the hell are you doing?" I barked.
"There were kids trapped in the yard," she shot back, breathless, hair loose around her face. "I'm not leaving them to die."
There wasn't time to drag her inside, not with the enemy breaking through the second line. My wolf hated it, but the fighter in me knew she could handle herself for a few minutes.
"Stay where I can see you," I said, and then I was gone again, driving back two Blackclaw wolves trying to circle behind us.
That was when I heard it.
"The Alpha's pup is ours!"
The voice cut across the battlefield like a blade. I turned, and my heart stopped.
One of them had Liam.
Everything else fell away. The noise, the smell, the fight, none of it mattered. All I saw was my son in the hands of an enemy who thought he could take what was mine.
I shifted so fast the change burned. My wolf exploded forward, every muscle coiled to kill. The warrior holding Liam barely had time to turn before my jaws closed on him. I felt flesh tear, heard the wet crunch of bone.
I dropped him in the dirt and shifted back, blood still dripping from my mouth. I pulled Liam into my arms. His little body was shaking, but his eyes locked on mine with the same stubborn strength I saw in Elara.
"You're safe," I told him, my voice rough. "No one touches you. No one."
Around us, the fighting slowed just enough for every ear to hear when I turned toward the pack.
"He's mine," I said. My gaze found Elara through the crush of bodies. "And so is she."
Her eyes widened. Her lips parted, like she had words but no breath to give them. My chest tightened, not from the fight but from the way she looked at me, like I'd torn down a wall she'd been holding up since the night I rejected her.
I shoved Liam into Tarin's arms. "Get him inside. Do not leave him."
Elara stepped forward like she wanted to protest. I caught her wrist, pulling her in close before she could speak. The scent of her was dizzying in the heat of battle, a mix of fear, fury, and something far more dangerous.
"You scared me tonight," I said low, my voice for her alone. "And I don't scare easily."
Her breath caught. "Kael…"
I didn't let her finish. I crushed my mouth to hers.
The kiss was nothing like the ones we'd stolen years ago. This was raw, unrestrained, the taste of blood and battle still on me, her lips yielding and resisting all at once. My hand slid to the back of her neck, holding her there, needing to feel her alive against me before I went back into the chaos.
She gasped against my mouth, her fingers curling in my shirt like she couldn't decide whether to pull me closer or push me away. When I finally broke the kiss, we were both breathing hard.
"Stay alive for me," I told her, my thumb brushing her jaw. "Because I'm coming back for more."
Her eyes were wide, but I didn't wait for her to answer. I turned, shifted, and threw myself back into the fight.
We met the next wave head-on. I caught one in the ribs, slamming him into the wall hard enough to feel the stone shudder. Another tried to flank me, but my claws raked across his side before he could get close.
Every strike was faster, harder, more savage than the last. The taste of blood only pushed me further. My mind kept circling back to the feel of her mouth on mine, and it burned hotter than the battle.
The fight shifted toward the treeline. If we could push them back far enough, we could regroup before dawn. Tarin was at my side again, his blade red, his breath ragged.
"We're holding them," he said.
"Not for long," I answered. Something in the air had changed and the wind carried a scent I didn't like.
It happened fast.
A flash from the trees. The hiss of something cutting through the air.
Pain exploded in my side. I staggered, looking down to see the silver-tipped arrow buried deep just below my ribs.
The burn was immediate, eating through muscle and bone like fire. My wolf snarled, wanting to rip it out, but the poison in the silver would only spread faster.
Around me, the fight slowed, then stilled. The Blackclaw wolves pulled back in a sudden, coordinated retreat, leaving a gap between us and the forest.
Then he stepped into view.
Tall, broad-shouldered, eyes like cold iron. The leader of Blackclaw. His smile was slow, deliberate.
"Alpha Kael," he called across the space between us. "I see I've found your weakness."
Behind him, more wolves emerged from the trees, their eyes fixed on the packhouse where Elara and Liam were hidden.
I straightened, blood running warm down my side, my voice steady despite the pain. "You've made the last mistake of your life."
But even as I said it, my vision blurred, and my knees threatened to give. The silver was working fast. Too fast.
Somewhere behind me, I heard Elara scream my name.
And I knew that if I fell here, the only thing standing between them and Blackclaw would be a locked door.